


Caught in the Rain

by SpiralSun



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Rated T for profanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 05:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiralSun/pseuds/SpiralSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Levi almost manages to be less violent and then isn't at all and Eren is still afraid of thunderstorms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in the Rain

“You have _got_ to be kidding me,” Levi growls. The pavement underneath his feet is beginning to spot with the water pox. He looks up at the sky. Boring and dull greys mix together to irritate the man. To make it worse, a little water droplet lands right underneath his left eye. He wipes it away. Shoulders now hunched, he continues walking a bit faster than before.

“It’s only rain,” the younger but taller man accompanying him says. He quickens his pace a bit to keep up.

“Rain makes mud and causes colds. It’s messy and wet,” Levi replies. He silently curses himself for not having an umbrella, or at least a hood, to cover himself. The weather had been so nice earlier in the day that he hadn’t bothered to check the forecast. Now that it was getting darker, the grey clouds obstructing what light came from the setting sun, the weather had turned sour. He stomps onwards; he needs to get out of this rain, and _fast_. “Hurry up, Eren.”

A hand grasps his wrist and pulls him to a stop. The shorter man turns around, irritation evident in the way he sighs heavily. He keeps silent as he glares daggers at Eren.

“Hold on,” Eren says belatedly and lets go of Levi’s arm. He takes off his sweater and takes a step closer to Levi.

“What are you doing?” Levi asks. Eren can tell that he’s wary, but he doesn’t back away which is as good as a go ahead despite the narrowed eyes. He moves his arms – and the sweater – up and above the two of them, but is stopped by a sharp jab in his chest. 

“What,” Levi hisses, punctuating the word with another jab, “are you _doing, Jaeger?_ ”

“It’s better than nothing.” He lifts the sweater the rest of the way up, shielding them from the rain which is coming down a little bit quicker and harder now. 

Levi still looks at him with a desire to severely maim burning in his eyes, but Eren doesn’t miss the little twitch of the corner of his mouth. He turns back around with an indignant _‘hmph’_ , but he’s walking slower now, enabling Eren to keep up despite the sweater held above them. 

The sweater manages to keep most of the rain away for fifteen minutes, before the rain starts coming down hard to the point where it can be described as pouring. They’re almost at Levi’s apartment building at that point, and they sprint the rest of the way until they’re inside, relatively dry. Eren follows Levi up the stairs.

The older man glances at Eren briefly before unlocking his apartment and stepping inside, leaving the door open as an invitation to the younger. He steps inside, closing the door behind him, and notices Levi and his sweater have already disappeared into the apartment. He takes off his shoes and wanders down the hallway.

“Don’t touch anything,” comes a call from somewhere ahead. Eren pulls his hand back from one of the only pictures on the wall. It looks like an emblem featuring two stylized wings on top of each other. Eren has never seen anything like it, and he has no idea what it stands for or where it comes from. He doesn’t look at any of the other pictures as he hurries past and into the tiny living room. He can hear a quiet whistling sound, but Levi is nowhere to be seen.

The older man enters just as Eren sits down on the couch. A small white towel is slung around his neck, his slightly ruffled hair evidence that it has already been used. He says nothing as he tosses an identical towel in Eren’s direction, as well as a large grey shirt. 

“You should cover your back better next time. You’ll get sick,” he says as he crosses the room, heading toward the kitchen. Eren flushes as he dries his arms and face, embarrassed that Levi noticed his drenched back. He prayed he wouldn’t, hoping to avoid awkward and embarrassing questions, but no questions come.

Eren opens his mouth to protest, to tell Levi that he doesn’t get sick easily, when he sneezes. He looks up, noticing Levi looking at him from the doorway of the kitchen. That’s it, he is going to be kicked out and back into the rain any second now, Eren is sure of it. But Levi doesn’t appear by his side to literally kick him out the door. Instead, he turns around and disappears into the kitchen.

He reappears half a minute later, carrying two steaming cups of tea. He sets one down in front of Eren and motions to a small tin labelled ‘sugar’ in the middle of the coffee table. 

“You didn’t change your shirt yet,” Levi says absentmindedly, sipping his tea and watching the rain drops race each other on the window pane with disdain. Eren stops shovelling sugar into his tea. Truth of the matter is, he doesn’t want to put on Levi’s shirt, not at all. Not that he isn’t grateful, he is, but it’s _Levi’s shirt_. As much as he wants to get out of his wet shirt, he thinks he might just die if he puts on Levi’s. He sneezes again.

“For fuck’s sake, just put on the goddamn shirt. It’s clean and everything. Jesus shit,” Levi growls into his tea. He nudges a Kleenex box closer to Eren with his other hand. Eren doesn’t dare disobey. He stands up and takes off his shirt, pulling the grey one on as quickly as possible. To his surprise it’s quite big on him, and he realizes how tiny Levi must look when he wears it. 

Levi stands up and snatches his wet shirt out of his hands. He looks just as irritated and bored as usual, but Eren thinks he can see a hint of red dusting his cheeks. Before he can make sure, Levi has turned and is walking toward the window. Only now does Eren notice that his sweater is draped over a chair to dry by the window, Levi’s leather jacket beside it on another chair. His shirt joins his sweater, taking up the seat. 

“Thanks,” Eren manages to say. Levi only grunts quietly as he returns to his armchair. 

They talk about college and work and the news for a couple of hours, waiting for the heavy rain to let up so Eren can go home. They have several cups of tea while they wait out the rain, but Levi stops refilling their cups when Eren laughs so hard at a joke about a politician – it’s so unexpected coming from Levi’s mouth even if it’s an insult, really, but since it’s not about the brunette this time, it counts – that he almost spills his tea all over the sofa, but his pants catch the liquid before it has a chance to spell certain death. There are fewer insults directed towards Eren in their conversation, but Levi still manages an impressive amount by the time the clock hits eleven thirty. Eren looks out of the window into the inky night. All he can see is the glimmer of the streetlights outside, distorted by the rain still pitter-pattering against the glass. 

“You can sleep on the couch,” Levi says and Eren turns back around to look at him, surprised. Levi is looking at the screen of his phone, brows furrowed in what looks like worry to Eren, but he decides that annoyance is a more likely candidate knowing the smaller man. Before he has a chance to question what Levi is talking about, the phone is turned so he can see the grey cloud and lightning bolt icon on the screen. “Thunderstorm.”

There is no way Eren is walking home in a thunderstorm, so he accepts Levi’s offer, albeit a bit reluctantly. He prays his little issue won’t be a, well, _problem_ , at least this once. Levi flips open the couch to allow for more stretch room, and brings Eren pillow, blanket, and sheet. Eren is wearing the grey shirt as well as a pair of black sweats Levi threw in his face after spilling tea all over his jeans, and he supposes it will have to do as sleeping attire. While the younger of the two prepares his bed for the night, the older man leaves the room.

Levi returns wearing green flannel pajama pants and a washed out white shirt. He is brushing his teeth with a yellow toothbrush and throws something at Eren. The object hits Eren in the chest and he manages to catch it before it falls to the floor. It’s a brand-new, pink toothbrush. Levi’s foresight takes him aback – it really shouldn’t; cleanliness is Levi’s thing and of course it would extend to oral hygiene – and he doesn’t remember to be horrified at the prospect of brushing his teeth with it _or_ ask why Levi owns a pink toothbrush in the first place. Within minutes, he is all cleaned up and ready for bed. He bids Levi goodnight, but receives only a muffled _‘hn’_ through the closed door of his bedroom. 

The storm has already started by the time Eren climbs into the makeshift bed. Minutes pass, during which he turns from side to side, restless. Lightning flashes behind his eyelids and the thunder rattles him to the bone. He just hopes the sounds he makes aren’t loud enough to wake Levi; explaining that he is still childishly afraid of thunderstorms isn’t high on the list of things he wants to tell the man, not at all. A particularly loud thunder clap makes him flinch and a very unmanly and loud whimper he will deny ever making escapes his lips. He squeezes his eyes shut just as something soft hits him in the face. 

Eren opens his eyes and looks up at a very disgruntled and tired looking Levi holding a pillow in one hand. He flushes brightly and prays that, however unlikely, a lightning bolt will find its way into the room and strike him dead. This is too embarrassing to deal with. He opens his mouth to make a lame excuse he hasn’t thought of yet – because really, what excuse is there to cover up his childish wailing over a stupid thunderstorm – when Levi tells him to shut up via another soft smack to the face.

“Shut up and go to sleep,” he says, throwing the pillow down beside Eren’s head. “You’re not a fucking baby.” The brunette has no idea why Levi is suddenly stepping onto the sofa. He opens his mouth yet again, but a soft and _almost_ accidental kick to his legs stops his protests before they’re even half formed. Levi flops down beside him with an _almost_ not painful elbow to his back. 

Never in a thousand years would he have imagined Levi as the big spoon, but here they are. An arm wraps around his waist, the second one worming its way underneath his body and curling over his chest in a way that will leave it falling asleep if it stays in that position for long. Levi moves closer until his stomach is nearly pressed against Eren’s back. Eren can feel Levi’s warm breath through his shirt. He is frozen in shock.

“My mother used to do this during thunderstorms when I was younger,” Levi says. He leans his forehead against the base of Eren’s neck. Eren expects him to recoil with a burned forehead, he feels so hot with embarrassment. Levi threatens him instead. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone, this will be the closest you will ever get to being intimate with anyone. Now sleep before I change my mind and strangle you to keep you quiet instead.”

The mention of intimacy has Eren exhaling a shaky breath. This is more intimate than Eren had ever hoped to be with Levi. He wants to say something, an ‘understood’ maybe, but another lightning bolt illuminates the room briefly, a clap of thunder close behind. He flinches again, but doesn’t miss the way Levi’s arms tighten their hold for a brief second and his leg shifts slightly. Maybe this isn’t entirely for Eren’s benefit, and he smiles at that. He stays silent. 

It isn’t long before Levi’s breathing evens out and the arm curled around his torso slackens its hold and rests on the couch. Eren drifts off shortly after, the feeling of safety following him into his dreams. He sleeps better than he has in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> 'Caught in the rain' was a random prompt and then I decided I needed it in my life, so I wrote it. No regrets. I could go further with this but I don't know if I will. Working on something else, something longer, that may or may not be published as well at a later date.
> 
> First published fanfiction, constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.


End file.
